The article Who should doctors let die in a pandemic is making the rounds amongst Down syndrome lists.

CHICAGO - Doctors know some patients needing lifesaving care won’t get it in a flu pandemic or other disaster. The gut-wrenching dilemma will be deciding who to let die.

Now, an influential group of physicians has drafted a grimly specific list of recommendations for which patients wouldn’t be treated. They include the very elderly, seriously hurt trauma victims, severely burned patients and those with severe dementia.

The suggested list was compiled by a task force whose members come from prestigious universities, medical groups, the military and government agencies. They include the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Where do our kids with Down syndrome fit in this plan?

To prepare, hospitals should designate a triage team with the Godlike task of deciding who will and who won’t get lifesaving care, the task force wrote. Those out of luck are the people at high risk of death and a slim chance of long-term survival. But the recommendations get much more specific, and include:

• People older than 85
• Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.
• Severely burned patients older than 60.
• Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
• Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

Dr. Kevin Yeskey, director of the preparedness and emergency operations office at the Department of Health and Human Services, was on the task force. He said the report would be among many the agency reviews as part of preparedness efforts.

(Emphasis mine.)

Considering our kids are often thought of as being severely mentally impaired by others and considering our kids have a higher chance of early onset Alzheimer disease, we must be ever vigilant and ever prepared on behalf of our children.

I take this commentary from Not Dead Yet News & Commentary to heart (Hat tip to KathyR):

Real ethical concerns indeed. These “lifeboat rejects” are already some of the people likely to draw the short straw in what we call a healthcare system. Has anyone bothered to ask how this triage list will affect attitudes toward individuals now deemed as “rejects” now? Hospitals will now have policies listing these individuals as unworthy of lifesaving efforts in an emergency. Will that affect the way medical providers see them right now?

It’s not as though individuals on this list are highly valued or respected in the system as it is.

I have many friends who would fit on this list. I have two pieces of advice for them:

1. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
2. Once you’ve gotten that out of your system, start organizing and raising a stink about it.

Oh where does that lifeboat come in?

I know my stance on Universal Health Care is not the most popular amongst other parents having children with Down syndrome, but I see this Lifeboat policy tying into the eventual limited resources to be had should Universal Health Care be adopted. We’re already told there are unwritten (sometimes written) rules that our children will not be transplant candidates, and I can only imagine that under UHC, more decisions will be taken out of our hands.